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StumbleuponPirates 9, Reds 5
Math shows Reds stink in division
Despite two Jay Bruce homers, Cincinnati falls to fifth-place Pirates in NL Central matchup.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
CINCINNATI — Dusty Baker said it before the game, said it with emphasis and positivity: "We have to play better in our division (National League Central)."
Then his Cincinnati Reds went out against a lesser light in the NLC, the fifth-place Pittsburgh Pirates, and lost for the second straight night in the near-solitude of Great American Ball Park, 9-5.
It was their 18th loss in 29 division games.
To make it worse, they can't beat teams with records under .500: 12-23.
They can't even win at home: seven losses in their last eight at GABP
It appears they can't beat teams wearing black, blue, red, green, rust, teal, purple or fuschia.
The latest reversal earned Baker a visit from CEO/owner Bob Castellini after the game and Castellini probably regrets saying, "We will not keep losing," on the day he fired general manager Wayne Krivsky.
The Reds are 30-35 since that day.
"Sometimes Bob comes down, but not that often," said Baker. "He came down to say, 'Hey, man, do what you can do and keep your head up.' I told him, 'Our heads might be down tonight, but they'll be back up tomorrow."
Asked if Castellini is frustrated with the habitual losing and bad play, Baker said, "Yeah, he's frustrated and we're all frustrated."
Jay Bruce hit home runs in the first and second innings and Adam Dunn hit one in the second, but Pittsburgh counteracted those with two by Xavier Nady and one by Jose Bautista.
"It doesn't make much difference when you don't win," said Bruce. "We need to keep plugging, and it'll come together. We have all the pieces. Hang with us."
Another quote from Baker before the game: "We never give up, we just give out."
Well, Reds rookie pitcher Daryl Thompson was passing out runs and hits like Fourth of July lollipops in the early going.
The two teams came out swinging like featherweights in a championship bout, and Thompson nearly went down for the count before his gloves were tightly laced.
The first five Pirates hit safely to open the game and before Thompson had lost any sweat on the rosin bag.
Four scored before the Reds batted.
"It was bad," said Thompson. "I was throwing a lot of strikes, but I didn't have anything on my fastball and they came out swinging. I couldn't get the ball down in the zone and they made me pay for it.
"When you go out there and you don't have your stuff, you need to be able to battle through it and I wasn't able to battle through it. I tried and tried and tried, but I couldn't keep the ball down."
The Reds, though, battled back, including Bruce's leadoff home run in the bottom of the first off Cincinnati native John Van Benschoten.
And they took the lead, 5-4, in the second with four runs, a one-out solo home run by Adam Dunn and Bruce's second homer of the game, a three-run blast.
Pittsburgh tied it in the third with Nady's home run, then Nady homered again in the fifth with one on, giving the Pirates a 7-5 lead and ending Thompson's night.
Jeremy Affeldt hit a batter to open the seventh and it cost him a run when Adam LaRoche shot a run-scoring triple that kicked around and away from right fielder Ken Griffey Jr. in the corner, making it 8-5.
By that time, if the Reds didn't give up, they certainly gave out — no runs and four hits over the final seven innings.
Pittsburgh's Denny Bautista replaced Van Benschoten in the third and held the Reds no runs and one hit over 3 1/3 innings to get the win.
"Bautista was the one," said Baker. "He beat us. He strung zeros on us and we couldn't do anything with him."
As one National League scout said of the Reds, "That's a very low-energy team."
